U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) issued the following statement after President Obama’s State of the Union speech:

“President Obama gave a speech that is very different from last year. His recognition that businesses create jobs and economic growth is encouraging. I worry, however, that when he talks about ‘investments,’ it is just another way of saying ‘spending.’ We can do better than freezing federal spending at the current, inflated levels.

I agree with the President about the need to create jobs and cut spending. Despite the massive spending over the last two years, we have historic unemployment and historic debt to go with it. The American people made it very clear in November that they want the spending to stop and the government’s role in everyday life to shrink. We must cut spending and government so we can restore the foundations for growth in the private sector.

We must use this opportunity to make significant, lasting changes in government spending, and we must seize the opportunity to put the country on a more fiscally responsible path. As we cut spending, every program should be reviewed for efficiency and effectiveness. However, we must remember that national security is the top role of the federal government and our budget should reflect its priority. Everyday people and organizations are plotting and planning to attack Americans at home and abroad. It is a grim reality, but one the government has a responsibility to fully address.

Big, important issues face our nation, and we owe it to the American people to be respectful and reasonable in how we debate the solutions to them. Already, we have made some important steps in this new Congress by voting to repeal the government takeover of health care, cutting the House’s own expenses, and rolling back spending to pre-bailout and pre-stimulus levels or less. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to get our country back on track and to restore the people’s trust in government. I look forward getting to work doing just that.”